Newark Mayor Ras Baraka shined a light on the need for better maternal health care in Newark today in a roundtable discussion that brought together thought leaders from around the state, including two candidates for the U.S. Senate seat, First Lady Tammy Murphy and U.S.

Senator Bob Menendez.

The first lady has championed this issue across the state and today's discussion narrowed that focus to maternal health care and how it can actually impact the entire life of a child, including early literacy outcomes.

Melissa Rose Cooper has more.

The loss of a mother is an incredible, challenging experience, and it becomes even more difficult for a child to comprehend one link to complications during their birth.

Oftentimes, the impact of this loss, this loss has on children, especially girls who will one day have to decide if they wish to have children.

It's not discussed.

Feelings.

Gabrielle Thomas knows all too well as her own mother passed away while giving birth to her.

For me, my mother's experience has greatly influenced my views on childbirth.

As a result, I'm a staunch believer that all expectant mothers and their families should be equipped with the necessary tools to advocate for themselves.

Our health care system, in turn, must ensure that their concerns receive the attention and care they deserve and informed and empowered Expectant mother is the bedrock of a thriving community.

So members of the community joined health experts and elected officials in Newark today for the Cradle Project Conference.

The goal is to figure out what can be done to improve positive outcomes for expectant mothers.

We need to make sure that pregnant mothers have access to health care, that they have access to primary care physicians, doulas, if you will.

They have access to all kinds of folks that that are around them and able to make sure that they get the vitamins that that we take for granted.

The vitamins that people are supposed to get the attention that they're supposed to get, the information that they're supposed to get.

The council initiatives, Mayor Ras Baraka says, are also important as maternal care is linked to a child's educational success.

Results of the most recent state student learning assessments revealed many kids are still struggling with learning loss since the pandemic, with only 51.3% of students in grades three through nine, meaning proficiency levels in English language arts.

There's a lot of data that teaches us and tells us clearly what it is that we need to do to get people to read by third grade.

One of the most profound and fundamental things is making sure that we're taking care of their mothers right?

So if we're not taking care of their mothers, then we are impacting their ability to access information at higher levels.

When we open up the data, we realize that also COVID impacted literacy scores.

But it also took another problem that we were struggling were very specifically black mothers.

When my husband was first sworn in, New Jersey was one of the most dangerous places in the United States for a mother to give birth at all 50 states.

We were ranked 47th for maternal deaths, but tragically, these deaths do not affect all mothers equally.

Black women in New Jersey were seven times more likely than white women to die from maternity related complications.

And Black babies were three times more likely than white babies to die before their first birthdays.

For all of their medical complexities and contributing factors, these deaths come down to a single cause, and that is institutional racism disparities.

Attendees at the Cradle Project Conference are hoping to end soon so mothers and their children can live the lives they deserve.

For NJ Spotlight News, I'm Melissa Rose Cooper.